OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to ascertain which childhood
abuse experiences are associated with post-traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD) symptomatology for women survivors of childhood sexual abuse
(CSA). METHOD: Seventy-three women attending a Family Health
Counselling Service's Sexual Abuse Program were invited to participate
in a study looking at the effectiveness of sexual abuse
counselling. Initially, the women completed a series of self-report
questionnaires including a measure of PTSD symptoms, and were
interviewed about childhood abuse experiences. RESULTS: PTSD symptoms
were associated with higher levels of all psychopathology. However,
more interestingly, the severity of PTSD symptoms was also associated
with the extent of CSA which involved actual sexual intercourse. This
association of repeated abuse involving sexual intercourse with PTSD
symptoms was still significant (partial coefficient = .30, p, .000)
even when controlling for general level of
psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: One of the long-term effects of child
sexual abuse (CSA) is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the
women who reported multiple abusive episodes which involved sexual
intercourse had increased symptoms of PTSD.